Table 1.
Audio vignettes, varying racial description and levels of severity & ambiguity
| Vignettes | Lower severity, higher ambiguity | Higher severity, lower ambiguity |
|---|---|---|
| White description |
• You wake up to the noise of a car alarm going off 1.5 s pause and muffled car alarm starts • Looking out the window, 0.5 s pause • you see two young white men tiny pause • wearing baseball caps and jeans. 1.5 s pause • They seem [mild emphasis] to be arguing outside of the blaring car. 1.5 s pause • After watching for 15 s, 0.5 s pause • you can’t figure out exactly what is going on • Car alarm continues for 4 s |
• You wake up to the noise of a car alarm going off 1.5 s pause and muffled car alarm starts • Looking out the window, 0.5 s pause • you see two young white men tiny pause • wearing baseball caps and jeans. 1.5 s pause • They seem [mild emphasis] to be arguing outside of the blaring car. 1.5 s pause • Holding what appears to be a gun, 0.5 s pause • one shatters the car’s front passenger window • Muffled car glass shatter, car alarm continues for three seconds |
| Black description |
• You wake up to the noise of a car alarm going off 1.5 s pause and muffled car alarm starts • Looking out the window, 0.5 s pause • you see two young black men tiny pause • wearing baseball caps and jeans. 1.5 s pause • They seem [mild emphasis] to be arguing outside of the blaring car. 1.5 s pause • After watching for 15 s, 0.5 s pause • you can’t figure out exactly what is going on • Car alarm continues for 4 s |
• You wake up to the noise of a car alarm going off 1.5 s pause and muffled car alarm starts • Looking out the window, 0.5 s pause • you see two young black men tiny pause • wearing baseball caps and jeans. 1.5 s pause • They seem [mild emphasis] to be arguing outside of the blaring car. 1.5 s pause • Holding what appears to be a gun, 0.5 s pause • one shatters the car’s front passenger window • Muffled car glass shatter, car alarm continues for three seconds |
The audio vignette recordings were designed to minimize threats to external validity. The inclusion of a muffling effect on the car alarm noise, the left–right separation of the audio track, and the muffling effect added to the shattering of glass in the high severity vignette help increase the perceived realism of the audio vignette. Stereo (binaural) mixing of vignettes was identical between conditions:
• 30% pan left on narration
• 50% pan right on muffled car alarm (and muffled car glass shatter in high-severity condition)